Control and drive arrangement for movable members

ABSTRACT

A controller for controlling the movement of a member such as a sliding door driven by a motor. The door is controlled by the use of a motion detector coupled with the door. Pulses from the motion detector are counted by control circuitry, and the door is moved at a reduced speed in the region of its limits of travel. The limits are defined by the number of pulses from the motion detector equalling a predetermined value. The motor is de-energized if a stationary state of the door is detected in the low speed region, and reversed if a stationary condition is detected in the remainder of its movement.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to the control of the movement of a memberbetween first and second positions. The invention has particularapplication to the control of electrically operated doors and similardevices such as curtains, windows and other devices which are requiredto be moved between open and closed positions in response either tosimple actuating commands, or to a complex set of command functions.

The invention has particular application to the control of electricallyoperated doors of the kind which are mounted for sliding within thecavity of a wall adjacent the door opening, such doors being employed indomestic or commercial buildings.

Objects of the invention include the provision of a self-commissioningmode of operation, automatic retraction upon the sensing of an obstacle,and a control system which facilitates the employment of a wide range ofoptional behaviour modes for such purposes as security, energymanagement, and fire response.

BACKGROUND ART

Japanese patent publication No. 55-19366 discloses an automatic dooroperating system in which the distance of travel of the door from itsrest position is determined by counting pulses generated so as to beproportional to the number of rotations of the driving motor, and thedoor is controlled by comparing the pulse count with a pre-set valuecorresponding to the total length of travel of the door.

Such an arrangement represents a significant advance over earlier priorart systems where devices such as limit switches were employed to definethe door travel, but does not provide for a self-commissioningoperation, in particular requiring the total door travel to be pre-set.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

In one broad form the present invention comprises means controlling themovement of a member between first and second positions by drive meanscoupled with said member, said control means comprising:

(a) counting pulse generating means coupled with said member to providecounting pulses only during movement of said member,

(b) counting means receiving and counting said counting pulses toprovide a pulse count indicative of the position of said member relativeto said first position,

(c) means generating a pulse count corresponding to a third position ofsaid member between said first and second positions,

(d) comparator means comparing said position indicative pulse count andsaid third position pulse count,

(e) motion indicator means responsive to said counting pulse generatingmeans to register a moving or stationary condition of said member,

(f) speed control means responsive to said comparator means to set thespeed at which said member is driven to a first speed when said memberis between said first and third positions and to a second speed whensaid member is moving towards said second position and is between saidsecond and third positions, and

(g) drive stopping means responsive to said comparator means and to saidmotion indicator means to deactivate said drive means when movement ofsaid member toward said second position is arrested while said member isbetween said second and third positions,

In a preferred form, the invention further comprises drive reversingmeans responsive to said comparator means and said motion indicatormeans to reverse said drive means when movement of said member towardssaid second position is arrested when said member is between said firstand third positions.

Thus a characteristic of the present invention is that the totaldistance of travel of the door is not a factor in determining itsoperation, so there is no requirement during installation for accuratesetting of the total distance of travel.

Furthermore, rather than determine door position by counting revolutionsof the drive motor, in the present invention this is determined bycounting pulses directly related to door movement. The combination ofthese control features enables a particularly advantageous embodiment ofthe invention, suited to the operation of light doors such as domesticsliding door, where a clutch device is incorporated in the drivemechanism so that the motor can continue to run upon an obstructionbeing encountered, and can be over-ridden in emergency manual operationof the door.

The invention will now be described by way of example only, withreference to an embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevation of a door installationincorporating the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the logic sequences involved in theopening movement of the door of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the logic sequences involved in theclosing movement of the door of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the logic sequences associatedwith priority commands, in the operation of the door of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic circuit diagram of a control embodying theinvention; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic circuit diagram of a remote panel.

MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

As shown in FIG. 1 a sliding door 10 is mounted for reciprocation on asupporting rail 11, the rear portion of the rail 11 being supportedwithin the cavity 12 of a cavity wall, while the forward portion of therail 11 extends over a doorway 13 towards the door-jamb 14. The dooroperating mechanism and control circuitry is mounted on a mounting plate15 which extends above the doorway 13 and the cavity 12, and thismechanism essentially comprises an electric motor 16, preferably a lowvoltage DC motor for example of the kind used for driving theelectrically operated windows of motor cars, a motor power supply 17which preferably comprises a rechargable battery and a trickle charger,a drive pulley 18 which is driven by the electric motor through agearbox 19, a drive belt 20 engaged with the door 10 at 21, and an idlerpulley 22. The drive belt 20 incorporates a helical tension spring 20a.Circuit boards and electronic components are also mounted on the plate15, typically at 23 and 24.

The mounting of the sliding door and the mounting of the equipmentwithin the cavity employs conventional techniques and will not bedescribed further. On the face of the inner door-jambs 23 on each sideof the door there are preferably located touch sensors 24, which areconnected with the control circuitry as described below.

The control circuitry will be described herein largely in terms offunctions, rather than in terms of hardware, as the control behaviour inquestion may be achieved by hard-wired systems or by the use ofsoftware.

FIG. 2 shows the sequences involved in the initiation and control ofopening movement of the door. A motion detector 25, which may consist ofa reflective type opto-interrupter mounted to scan white bars printed onthe idler pulley 22, produces a series of pulses when the door is inmotion. The output of the motion detector is applied to an up/downcounter 26 which may conveniently comprise a pair of 4-bit counters. Thestate of the counter 26 will therefore provide an indication of thedistance which the door has travelled from rest.

A door width indicator 27 provides a digital signal indicative of adistance of travel which is somewhat less than the total length oftravel of the door between the open and closed positions, for theparticular width of doorway in which the unit is installed. This doorwidth indicator may conveniently comprise an 8-bit D.I.L. (dual-in-linepackage) switch. The outputs A and B of the up/down counter 26 and thedoor width indicator 27, are compared by comparator 28.

Upon the actuation of one of the touch sensors 24, or upon thegeneration of an opening signal by remote circuitry described below, thedrive motor 16 is actuated by start logic circuitry 17 and motor controlcircuit 18. The motor control circuit is influenced in turn by anopen/close logic circuit 29 which controls the direction of rotation ofthe drive motor, and by a fast/slow logic circuit 30 by which the motorcontrol circuit 18 constrains the motor to run at a fast or a slowspeed. The open/close logic circuit 29 may conveniently comprise aflip-flop which is clocked to change the direction of travel of the dooron its next operation, while the fast/slow logic circuit 30 may comprisegates which respond to the output of the comparator 28 as shown by thelogic functions at 31.

It will be appreciated that it is desirable to have the door travel atits high speed for most of the length of travel, and then to switch to alow speed immediately prior to reaching the end of its travel. Thus,while the motor 16 is activated, the comparator output is monitored andwhen the state of counter 26 as indicated by its output signal A,becomes the same as the state of the door width indicator 27 asindicated by its output signal B, then slow speed operation isinitiated.

When the door reaches the end of its travel and contacts the door-jamb,the output of the motion detector 25 will cease, but the motor 16 willcontinue to rotate, the tension in the belt 20, controlled by thetensions spring 20a, allowing slippage relative to the drive pulley 18.In the normal mode of operation loss of output from the motion detectorwhile the motor 16 is operating at its slow speed will result in themotor being deactivated and the door will become stationary in its openposition. Should however a command to reclose the door have been storedin the stored close logic circuit 32, which may comprise a flip-flopactivated by a second pulse from the touch sensor at the time of initialactuation, then upon the detection of motion stopped by the circuit 33,not only will the open/close logic circuit 29 be activated to ready thedoor for reverse movement, but also the stored close logic circuit 32will be activated immediately to restart the motor, which will thendrive the door through a closing sequence.

FIG. 3 shows the elements and sequences involved in closing operation ofthe door. Assuming the door to be in the fully open position, theclosing sequence is initiated by actuation of one of the touch sensors24, by a start signal from remote circuitry, or of course by theactuation of the start logic circuit 17 by the stored close logic 32.When the count of the up/down counter 26 reaches the preset count of thedoor width indicator 27, slow speed operation is initiated, and as inthe opening sequence, when the door stops upon reaching the fully openposition the motor is deactivated and the open/close logic 29 reset.

Motion of the door is monitored throughout its movement by means of theoutput of the motion detector, and the presence or absence of doormovement is related to the door positon in the logic function shown at34. Should the output signal from the motion detector 25 cease while thedoor is in the major part of its movement, that is to say before theup/down counter reaches the preset count of the indicator 27, then theopen/close logic and start logic circuits 29 and 17 will immediately beactivated, to reverse the direction of the drive motor 16, in responseto what is of course in this way detected as an obstruction in thedoorway. Should an obstruction be encountered after the signal A hasreached the count of signal B, and the door has been switched to itsslow speed, then the motor will simply be deactivated, so that smallobstructions close to the end of movement of the door will not result inreversal and reopening.

The circuit functions providing priority command sequences are set outin FIG. 4. Firstly it may be noted that an air-conditioning sensor input35 is provided, which may be connected with an air-conditioning unit, sothat if this unit is running and the door has been left open, the doorwill be closed automatically after a set delay. In the logic function at36, the state of the direction of travel flip-flop in the open/closelogic 29 is monitored, and the start logic 17 is activated if necessary,after a delay provided by time delay circuit 37.

Two fire sensor inputs are provided. The first of these 38 is intendedfor a local or room fire detector, while the second of these inputs 39is intended for connection to the general alarm system. A fire alarmdevice 40 may be incorporated with the door, and operated by the localfire sensor input 38, and by the fire sensor input 39 if so desired.Preferably, a fire sensor inhibit input (not shown) is provided, andresponse to an actuating signal at either of the inputs 38 and 39 willbe prevented should this inhibit function be activated. Signals from theinputs 38 and 39 are applied to fire sensor inhibit gate circuitry 41,and then gated in the logic circuit 42 with the state of the motordirection flip-flop in the open/close logic circuit 29, and the startlogic circuit 17 is controlled accordingly.

In the preferred form of the equipment, each door which incorporates acontrol arrangement according to the invention, is associated with acentral remote control panel which may be under the control of thebuilding supervisor. The remote control panel has displays showing thecondition of operation of each door as well as controls enabling manualclosing or opening of the door from the panel. In addition, each panelmay be provided with "priority open" and "priority close" controls, andcorresponding inputs 43 and 44 are provided in the door controlcircuitry and are shown in FIG. 4. Inhibit circuitry is provided betweenthe touch sensor or remote panel input 24 and the start logic circuit17, the logical operation of this circuitry being shown at 45. Actuationof the "priority open" switch at the control panel will inhibit thetouch sensors or remote control switches, and by means of the logicalfunctions shown at 46 and 47, a change of state of the forward/reverseflip-flop in the open/close logic circuit 29 will be inhibited when thisis in the door open state, while door actuation will occur if the dooris in its closed or closing state upon actuation of the "priority open"switch.

Similarly, by means of the inhibit function 45, and the logicalfunctions shown at 47 and 48, actuation of the "priority close" switchwill inhibit the touch sensor input or remote control input and ensurethat the door closes or returns to a closed positon after otheractuation. If the door is forced, the alarm will be activated, and thedoor will cycle through an opening and closing movement.

Particularly in its domestic application, the drive mechanism of thedoor is designed so that damage to the door or its mechanism will notoccur due to mishandling, and so that should a power failure occur andin the event of battery back-up failure, the door can still be operatedmanually. This is simply achieved by the tension in the drive belt beingsuch that the belt can slip on the pulley should the door be forcedmanually. Such a clutch-like action is required in any case to enablethe door to stop upon striking an obstruction, and to allow the motor torun momentarily after the door reaches the end of its travel. A furtheradvantage of the control arrangements described above is that if thedoor is forced open when the system is operating, the motor will beactuated in response to the presence of pulses from theopto-interrupter, and the door will open under power.

It is preferred that the touch sensors 24 are each provided withindicators showing the state of the control circuitry. Thus, each may beprovided with a green and a red light-emitting diode, the green beingactivated when an open command has been registered or when the door isopen, the red being activated by a close command and remaining red whilethe door is closed. Where the system is in one of its special modes,this can also be shown. For example, when the air-conditioning sensorinput 35 is activated, the red LED's of the touch sensors can be flashedto show that the door will close after a delay.

As mentioned above, the control behaviour of present invention may beembodied in hardware or may be achieved by a microprocessor withsoftware based on the logical functions described above.

A hardware embodiment of the main features of the present invention isillustrated in the schematic diagram of FIG. 5, which shows the controlcircuitry suitable for use in the arrangement illustrated in FIG. 1, thecircuitry illustrated receiving input signals from the various controldevices such as the touch sensors or remote panel, air-conditioningsensors, priority open, and close switch and fire detectors, and whichprovides outputs for the control of motor drive circuitry, and for theprovision of indication of the state of the control system, by the useof LED indicators.

The clock signal from the opto-interrupter 25 arrives at input pin 100and after pulse shaping is applied to the clock input of a pair of 4-bitup-down counters 101 and 102 and to the A clock input of are-triggerable monostable 103 which will be referred to below. Thecounter 101, 102 is coupled with a pair of 4-bit comparaters 104, 105where the accumulated count from the opto-interrupter 25 is comparedwith the setting of a DIL switch 106.

Output signals from the touch sensors are applied to the inputs 107 andfrom the manual control at the remote panel to the input 108. A priorityopen signal, if applicable, is applied to the input 109, while the input110 receives a priority close signal if this has been selected at theremote panel. The inputs 109 and 110 are gated at 111 with the touchsensor or manual inputs 107 and 108, to inhibit the latter signals inthe presence of either priority signal.

Two fire sensor inputs are provided, 112 and 113. The second of these iscoupled directly with the priority close input 110, and thus functionsas a non-overridable local fire sensor input, while the input 112 may beinhibited by a signal at the fire sensor inhibit input 114 which isgated with the input 112 at 115.

The input commands derived from these various input pins are combined inan eight input NOR gate 116, the touch sensor or manual command signalafter gating with the monostable 103, and the priority close commandafter gating with the outputs of a "D" type flip-flop 117 the state ofwhich determines the direction of travel of the door. The output of thegate 116 is applied to the "B" clock input of the monostable 103, the"Q" output of which is applied to the fast/slow logic circuit 30 whichalso receives signals from the comparator 104, 105 and the direction oftravel flip-flop 117, which forms part of the open/close logic circuit29. The outputs from the fast/slow logic gate circuitry 30 for the motorcontrol circuitry (not shown) are a fast forward output 118, slowforward output 119, fast reverse output 120 and slow reverse output 121.

Exclusive OR gates 122 and 123 respectively detect the door opening anddoor closing conditions of the door control logic, and controlrespective groups of outputs 124 and 125 for the green LED indicators ofthe touch sensor panel and the remote panel, and the red LED indicatorsof the remote panel and the touch sensors.

The "Q" output of the monostable 103 is also applied to a NAND Schmitttrigger 126, where it is coded with the manual or touch sensor inputcommand signal and applied both to the open/close logic 29, and to theclock pin of a "D" type flip-flop 127. This functions together with ANDgate 128 as the stored "close" logic circuit 32. The gated output of theflip-flop 127 are applied to the input command combining gate 116, andthe "Q" output of the flip-flop 127 is also applied to an exclusive ORgate 140 to activate the door closing red LED indicators. Thus until theflip-flop 127 is cleared by closure of the door, the motor start logicmonostable 103 will remain activated, and the open/close logic circuit29 will be placed in its door closing condition upon completion of thedoor opening phase, this providing the automatic closure functiondescribed above.

A further input 129 is provided for the air-conditioning sensor referredto earlier. A re-triggerable monostable receives the air-conditioningsensor signal after gating with the direction of travel signal from theflip-flop 117, and by means of a time delay circuit consisting ofresistor 131 and capacitor 132, controls a timer 133 which, for a timedelay set by the values of 131 and 132, will provide a pulse signal tothe red door closing LED output circuits 125, and upon expirey of thisdelay, will initiate door closing action via gate 134 and input commandcombining gate 116.

The signal outputs of the circuit illustrated in FIG. 5 are completed byoutput 135 which provides an indication of the motor running condition.

The remote control panel circuit for a given door is shown in FIG. 6.Logic level switches 136a to 136f control the priority close output 110,priority open output 109, manual change of state output 108, and firesensor inhibit 114, and respond to the open and close motion indicationinputs 124 and 125.

The motor run indicating signal at 135 is applied to the clock pin of a"D" type flip-flop 137 which is normally held in reset mode by the logiclevel switches 136a, c and d, so that in the absence of an opening orclosing operation and the presence of a priority close conditionenabling the flip-flop 137, the motor run indicator signal will drivethe flip-flop 137 to actuate an alarm buzzer 138, and flash the motorrun indicator under the control of timer 139, alerting the supervisor tothe forcing of the door.

It will also be appreciated that while the invention has been describedwith the aid of an exemplary embodiment, the principles of operationdiscussed herein may be realized in other ways, and the invention is notto be regarded as limited by the description of its embodiments.

I claim:
 1. A controller for controlling the movement of a memberbetween first and second positions by drive means coupled with saidmember, said controller comprising:(a) counting pulse generating meanscoupled with said member to provide counting pulses only during movementof said member, (b) counting means receiving and counting said countingpulses to provide a pulse count indicative of the position of saidmember relative to said first position, (c) means generating a pulsecount corresponding to a third position of said member between saidfirst and second positions, (d) comparator means comparing said positionindicative pulse count and said third position pulse count, (e) motionindicator means responsive to said counting pulse generating means toregister a moving or stationary condition of said member, (f) speedcontrol means responsive to said comparator means to set the speed atwhich said member is driven to a first speed when said member is betweensaid first and third positions and to a second speed when said member ismoving towards said second position and is between said second and thirdpositions, and (g) drive stopping means responsive to said comparatormeans and to said motion indicator means to deactivate said drive meanswhen movement of said member toward said second position is arrestedwhile said member is between said second and third positions.
 2. Acontroller according to claim 1 further comprising drive reversing meansresponsive to said comparator means and to said motion indicator meansto reverse said drive means when movement of said member towards saidsecond position is arrested when said member is between said first andsecond positions.
 3. A controller according to claim 1 wherein saiddrive means comprises a drive motor and drive motor coupling meansallowing relative movement between said motor and said member wherebysaid motor may continue to run upon arresting of said member and wherebysaid member may manually be moved while said motor is unactivated.
 4. Acontroller according to claim 3 wherein said member is a door, saidcontroller further comprising circuit means responsive to manualactuation to establish a door operate command signal, means establishinga door open and door closed condition, and means responsive to saidcommand signal to close or open said door.
 5. A controller according toclaim 4 further comprising means establishing a priority open signal,means responsive to said priority open signal to initiate openingmovement of the door when the door is in its closed position.
 6. Acontroller according to claim 4 further comprising means establishing apriority close signal, means responsive to said priority close signal toinitiate closing movement of the door when the door is in its openposition.
 7. A controller according to claim 6 comprising a firedetection means and for receiving from fire detection means a signalindicative of the presence of a fire, means establishing a firecondition signal, and means coupling said fire condition signal withsaid means responsive to said priority close signal.
 8. A controlleraccording to claim 6 further comprising delayed closure means responsiveto a delayed closure signal to supply a command signal to said meansresponsive to said priority close signal after a predetermined delay. 9.A controller according to claim 3 futher comprising override alarmmeans, means detecting the presence of counting pulses in the absence ofactuation of said motor and means responsive thereto to actuate saidmotor and said override alarm means.